What is my nickname?
by Ponchygirl
Summary: They are celebrating having Lt. Bates at Central for a year now. Lt. Bates want's a new nickname. Ponch gives Lt. Bates plenty of things to choose from. But none of them are exactly what he was hoping for. Ponch was upset with him. Is Lt. Bates gonna get a good nickname? Read and find out.


Ponch walked down the hall, to Getraer's office. He was really upset. Lt. Bates had been a jerk the past few days, but today was just the worst. Ponch had never known anyone as mean as Lt. Bates. Bates had just finished chewing Ponch out about something Ponch never did. He thought that Ponch was the one that spilled coffee all over the floor and never cleaned it up. Then he said that Ponch was the one that broke the chair in his office. The list just went on. Ponch couldn't stand it anymore. This day one year ago marked the day Lt. Bates had arrived at Central. They were throwing a party for him in the briefing room. Lt. Bates made sure to make it clear Ponch wasn't invited. Because of all of the 'bad things.' He'd done this week. Ponch actually was gone all week. But Lt. Bates had failed to notice that. Ponch had just gotten over being sick. Ponch walked into Getraer's office.

"Sarge, can we talk?"

"Sure, I was just about to ask you to come in. Lt. Bates wants a new nickname. We were trying to come up with one. What do you think?"

"I think you should call him Big fat jerk," Ponch said. Getraer was surprised at that.

"Well, except that he's not fat, " Ponch added. Getraer was writing this all down.

"No wait, call him Mean with a big fat M," Ponch said. Getraer wrote that down. Ponch kept going on and on with all the names he could think of.

"Lt. Jerk face. Big fat Meany. Lt. I'm so much better than you. You know he really thinks that. He told me himself," Ponch said. Getraer was still writing down these names. After a few minutes, his page was filled with all the names that Ponch had called Lt. Bates. Then Getraer looked at Ponch.

"Just exactly what are you upset about?" He asked.

"Upset? Me upset? I am not upset. I just want to kill Mr. Unfair," Ponch said. Getraer wrote down that name too.

"What did he do?"

"He blames me for everything that goes wrong. Like it was my fault that someone made a mess and never cleaned it up. I was at home throwing up in a garbage can that day. As soon as I walk in the door today Lt. Vicious started biting my head off," Ponch said. Getraer wrote that one down too. Ponch had so many names that he had just called Lt. Bates. Getraer decided he'd hand the list to Bates and let him choose which one he wanted. He did not like the way Lt. Bates had treated Ponch ever since he'd gotten there. For some reason it just really upset him. Maybe Getraer thought, "I am the only one that is allowed to be mean to Poncherello." Who knows? He just always stood up for Ponch when Lt. Bates was being mean.

"Did you know that Mr. Perfect is having a party today, and I am not invited? He made sure I knew it," Ponch said.

"Mr. Perfect?"

"Yeah, he's always acting as if he is perfect. Everyone else is soooooooo much lower than him. It's hurtful," Ponch said. Getraer had noticed that a few times before. But he never realized how much it affected Ponch. Normally Ponch would let it go. Getraer put down his pen, hoping Ponch was finished giving out names. Because his hand was cramping from all that writing.

"Are you gonna forgive him Frank?" Getraer asked.

"Yeah, I just did. I forgive him for all that he did to me today. I just needed to talk to someone who actually cared," Ponch said. Getraer was touched by that. He was worried for a second that Ponch had talked about Getraer like that. The truth was he had, but not as bad as he had just done about Lt. Bates. Getraer stood up.

"Did you want to go to that party?"

"Not really, why?"

"Well, I have to go talk to Lt. Bates. I have to give him his nickname. If you wanted to go, I could talk him into letting you come," Getraer said.

"No thanks, I don't feel that great right now anyway. I need to go home and lay down," Ponch replied.

"Ok, I'll talk to you later," Getraer said then walked out the door.

 _Meanwhile…._

Getraer walked into Lt. Bates' office.

"Hello Joe, so what is my nickname?"

"Well, there is a long list to choose from. I'll let you decide," Getraer said. Lt. Bates began to read the list. His smile faded.

"Lt. Vicious? Lt. Know-it-all? Mean with a big fat M? Mr. inhumanly perfect? Big fat Meany? Joe who said all of this?" Lt. Bates asked.

"Um… Poncherello," Getraer said quietly.

"I should've known. He's hated me from the start…."

"No, listen Harold. He doesn't hate you. You treat him like crap," Getraer said raising his voice. Harold looked confused.

"Ever since the first day you met him, you've been looking for all of his mistakes so you can get on his back about them. You never once even tried to be his friend. You wonder why he doesn't like you… Harold, he is just another human being. He isn't perfect, and he isn't any worse than you are. You treat him as if he could never do anything right. I know how he feels about you. Believe my Lieutenant, no matter what you do to him, he will always think of you the same way. He will never hate you. He has no hate in his body as he would say. He will however avoid you as much as possible if this keeps up. That is what he does to avoid hating someone. If he doesn't have a good enough reason for hating them," Getraer said.

"You mean, he doesn't hate me?" Bates asked.

"No, but he is upset with you," Getraer said.

"I'll apologize to him. Maybe I can get a better nickname," Bates said. He got up and left the room. He found Ponch getting ready to go out the door.

"Uh, Poncherello," Bates said. Ponch turned around.

"Hi," Ponch said. He wished he didn't see Bates standing there.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I just realized as I was talking to Getraer, you've been sick all week. That list of names you called me…."

"Oh sorry, I was just mad," Ponch said.

"And you had every right to be," Bates replied. Ponch suddenly got happy.

"You mean, you're not mad?" He asked.

"I will be if I don't get a better nickname than one of those," he said with a smile.

"Ok, how about Mr. Cool?" Ponch asked.

"That sounds good for now," Bates replied. Ponch smiled.

"Well, I'll see ya later," Ponch said.

"Wait, aren't you coming to the party?"

"Well…I wasn't invited," Ponch said.

"You are now," Bates replied.

"Ok, I'll be there," Ponch said. He felt a little better now. Lt. Bates really wasn't as bad as he thought he was. Well, Ponch also found out the same thing about Getraer. He used to think Getraer was bad. Now both his Sergeant, and his Lieutenant were good. The best in Ponch's mind.

THE

END


End file.
